Terminology+within+Revit

Family

 * Family:** A family is a collection of objects, called types. A family groups elements with a common set of parameters, identical use, and similar graphical representation. Different types within a family may have different values of some or all parameters, but the set of parameters - their names and their meaning - are the same. All elements in Revit Architecture are family-based.

Type

 * Type:** A type is a member of a family. Each type has specific parameters that are constant for all instances of the type that exist in a model; these are Type Parameters. Types also have Instance Parameters, which may vary for each instance of a type in the model.